As you all know, we're getting to work on 10/10/10--all around the world
people are preparing climate solutions projects for their communities,
their mosques and churches and synagogues and temples, their schools and
homes.

Those solar panels won't be enough solve climate change, obviously. But
they'll send a strong symbolic message about what the future
demand--and maybe our leaders will see how easy it is to start down a
greener path. If they hammer in a solar panel, perhaps they'll feel more
committed to hammering out some clean energy legislation.

We're a little worried, of course, that our leaders will use their new
solar panels to claim that they're sincere about climate change without
passing the legislation and enacting the regulations that really
matter--none of us wants to be used for a photo opportunity. Instead,
the message we'll all be sending is: you've taken symbolic action, so
now get to work on the real thing.

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But the symbolism is important too. Just imagine: 30 years ago the
American White House actually did have solar panels on the roof,
installed by president Jimmy Carter. But they were taken down by the
next administration, and they've never reappeared. That represents three
wasted decades when we could have been doing something about the
climate crisis--we'll never get those decades back, but we can start to
catch up now.

So while you're rounding up your neighbors for your own 10/10/10 action,
invite the person in charge of your nation to join you on that day.
Remind them that one answer to our greatest crisis is directly above
their heads. Tell them to roll up their sleeves and get to work!

Bill McKibben is the author of a dozen books, including The End of Nature and Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. A former staff writer for The New Yorker, he writes regularly for Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, and The (more...)